I was introduced to this book several years ago and it has been a favorite since the day I read it. "A bad Case of Stripes", by David Shannon, has a wonderful message to send to children about being themselves no matter what others think. Camilla Cream, the main character, is getting ready for school one morning when she looks in the mirror to see herself covered in rainbow stripes! She had no clue why she looked this way and it took lots of doctors, poking, probing, and pills to NOT figure it out! She thought she was doomed to look like this for the rest of her life until a sweet, little, old lady comes to her rescue. Camilla soon figures out that the reason for her stripes is because she is not being true to herself. You will have to read this funny and gut wrenching story to find out what it is that she's trying to hide. This story can be used in any elementary classroom as an activity to spread the word about always being yourself no matter what some people may think. Nothing is more miserable than playing a part in life and not enjoying yourself for who you are!

Lexile: AD610L

Reading A-Z: K,P

ATOS Reading Level: 3.8

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon is a cute story about a young girl named Camilla

who loves lima beans. She refuses to eat them because her friends dislike them and suddenly she ends up with a bad case of stripes. The doctors run tests and studies on her but nothing seems to work. She seems to just be getting worse until she eats lima beans as the cure and is back to normal. I would have my students complete an activity sheet with visualizations from the book. The students will draw two pictures of what Camilla looked like at different times in the book and then write a paragraph describing her for each time. I would ask my students to be very descriptive with their details of Camilla. I would rate this book a four and a half stars out of five and it is listed as AD540L on the Lexile scale.